Chapter 1298 The final guarantee
In a room with an open window, the radio on the table was playing the Wizard Radio News Network. However, the busy young man sitting on the edge of the bed seemed not to be interested in the news on the radio at all, and was putting the practical items he had just selected into his backpack.
“Dean, are you packing?”
Someone knocked on the half-open door. A dark-skinned girl stood outside the door and looked inside. She looked at Dean who was packing his luggage and asked his doubts, "Are you planning to leave here?"
“I don’t know about Anne, but I feel like I need to be prepared to leave in advance.”
Dean stuffed the thick cloak into his backpack, zipped it up again, put the backpack on the desk, gently hugged his half-sister, and said helplessly: "I'll take care of myself later." Go explain to dad and mom."
"But where are you going, other than going to Hogwarts?" Anne was even more confused.
“I want to, too, but...”
“Dean, what happened?”
Mrs. Thomas appeared outside the room, looking at her son with worry on her face.
Since the summer vacation at Hogwarts, her son Dean has looked worried. He has started to pay attention to newspapers and radio broadcasts in the wizarding world every day, and he seems to have been writing letters to friends in the wizarding world in the past few days.
Such a change gave her a bad feeling. The man was like that at the beginning, and then he left alone and never appeared again.
At that time, Mrs. Thomas had a premonition that Dean's father might not come back.
“Sorry mom, something bad happened, anyway... let’s go to the living room and talk.”
Dean gave his mother a hug with a guilty look on his face, picked up his backpack and walked outside.
This is how the family meeting at Thomas's house began.
Dean knew very well that he probably wouldn't be able to go back to Hogwarts to go to school. He actually didn't want to tell his family too much for fear of getting them involved.
But as Mrs Thomas said, everyone has a right to know.
Dean did not hide anything anymore and told them about the changes in the Ministry of Magic.
"So, there is a group of terrorists who control the magical government and require everyone to prove that they have wizard blood, otherwise they will be removed from that place..." Mr. Thomas paused, seeming to recall the name of Hogwarts. .
“Hogwarts,” Dean added.
“Yes, we are going to expel you from Hogwarts school and also prepare to put you in jail?” Mr. Thomas thought this was really ridiculous.
"Yes, the Ministry of Magic has recently established a department called the Muggle-born Registration Committee." Dean looked at his stepfather and smiled bitterly: "It is said that the Muggle wizards working in the Ministry of Magic were arrested and imprisoned in Azka that day. Ban... jail."
“That’s ridiculous.”
The Thomas family all think this is so ridiculous that even TV dramas would not dare to act like this.
“No one objected.” Mr. Thomas asked doubtfully, “How could they allow this to happen?”
"No one dares to resist the mysterious man!" Dean said with a bitter smile, "I heard that the former minister was killed in the line of duty because of this, and now everyone is afraid of death."
“They deserve it too,” muttered Mr. Thomas.
"We are the most unlucky ones." Dean looked helpless, "Muggle-born wizards have been abandoned."
"But, I mean your biological father is very likely..." Mrs. Thomas hesitated to speak.
"Even if that man is a wizard, I can't prove that he is a wizard. After all, he is already dead. He died in the last wizard war. He was probably persecuted." Dean sighed helplessly, even though he was in this regard There have been speculations, but he has not found out who his biological father is.
However, Dean does not resent his biological father. If it were him, he would make the same choice.
"But even if you don't go to Hogwarts, you can still stay at home." Mrs. Thomas didn't want her son to leave. She suspected that Dean would have trouble filling his stomach outside.
"I can't prove that I have wizard blood, and I will definitely be charged with stealing wizard magic." Dean did not intend to stay. "The Ministry of Magic will probably send someone to arrest me, and you will definitely be implicated by then. You guys. You should also have noticed that a series of strange things happening in the UK are all deliberately caused by them, so I must leave to avoid causing disaster to everyone."
"Where are you going?" Mr. Thomas asked with a frown, "If that doesn't work, let's move to another place temporarily. Can't we hide if we can't afford to offend him?"
“I am going to seek refuge with a friend.”
Dean has tried to contact Hermione Granger through an owl more than once, hoping to join Albert Anderson's Defense Society through her.
It's a pity that his owl didn't find Granger, and he himself had no way to do it.
Now Snape has become the new headmaster of Hogwarts and has expelled all students from Muggle families. He must leave this home now no matter what, to avoid causing real trouble to his family.
"By the way, after I leave, you should stay outside for a month or two first, in case someone comes to the house to arrest someone." Dean expressed his uneasiness, "I really can't be sure that the person coming will be an employee of the Ministry of Magic. , or Death Eaters. However, there seems to be no difference between them. They are all dangerous elements. It is best not to have contact with them, because dark wizards have the habit of killing ordinary people indiscriminately to vent their anger. On TV, we often see people dying in inexplicable accidents, most of them That’s what they do.”
Mr. Thomas was silent. He suddenly understood why Dean had to leave.
“Take care of yourself and keep in touch with us via owl.” Mr. Thomas gave Dean a hug.
At this warm moment, an owl flew in from the open window and dropped a letter on the table in front of Dean.
“Who wrote to me?”
Dean picked up the letter doubtfully, and after quickly reading the contents, he jumped up from his seat excitedly, ran to the window and looked out, as if he was looking for something.
"Is there any good news in the letter?" Mrs. Thomas asked expectantly when she saw her son's reaction.
“Someone is coming to pick me up.” Dean said excitedly.
Thomas and his family looked at each other.
A few minutes later, the doorbell of Thomas's porch rang.
Dean took the wand and carefully opened the wooden door of the entrance hall, and found a tall dark-skinned wizard standing outside the door.
“Oh, welcome.”
“You are the assistant next to the minister.”
Mr. Thomas was very surprised when he saw Kingsley because he had seen him on TV.
“Hello.”
Kingsley smiled and nodded towards the Thomas family and said, "I'm pressed for time, so I'll get straight to the point."
"The Ministry of Magic is currently under the control of a mysterious man and his minions. I think you should have learned this news from newspapers and radio. They are persecuting Muggle-born people and those from Muggle families in Hogwarts. The students have also been expelled. I think their next step is likely to be to use the Ministry of Magic to send people to arrest Mr. Thomas. I suggest you leave here temporarily to avoid being targeted."
“Are you here to help us?” Mr. Thomas asked expectantly.
"It's not help. I'm just here to give you some advice to avoid bad things from happening as much as possible." Kingsley simply said: "This is what Mr. Anderson meant. We are currently providing services to all those who have been expelled from Hogwarts." The students established a temporary shelter area, which was protected by the Charm of Loyalty."
"You can understand that the shelter is protected by a very powerful magic. Only with the permission of the secret keeper can you enter the shelter. Otherwise, even the mysterious person has no way. The secret keeper there is Mr. Anderson."
"So, Mr. Shacklebolt is going to take me to the shelter built by Anderson?" Dean couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. This was much better than running around without any purpose.
"Well, we are just providing you with a choice. If you have a better place to go, no one will force you." Kingsley did not forget to remind you, "However, there is something you need to know. The shelter is the result of the Order of the Phoenix, the Defense Society, and the professors from Hogwarts working hard all night in the past few days. Due to the tight schedule, the shelter is still very crude, and the help we can provide you is very limited. Let you have something to eat so that you don’t go hungry.”
"You should have a safer place, I mean the Defense Association or the Order of the Phoenix!" Mr. Thomas asked after exchanging glances with his wife.
"Sorry, I'm not here to recruit members." Kingsley shook his head and declined, "Besides, we don't recruit underage wizards. It is very dangerous to fight against mysterious people and Death Eaters. There are many like-minded companions. So sacrificed.”
"I'm an adult." Dean changed the topic and asked, "By the way, is Harry okay?"
"Don't worry, Harry is fine." Kingsley took out his pocket watch and looked at the time and said, "Of course, if you don't want to go to the asylum, we won't force it."
“Are the other Muggle-born students going there too?” Dean asked.
"Probably, we are not sure whether they are willing to go." Kingsley emphasized again, "What we can do is to provide everyone with the most basic safety guarantee and simple food so that everyone will not go hungry. , but that’s it. You are completely free and can choose to stay or leave, but you also need to be responsible for your own safety.”
As he spoke, Kingsley took out a button-shaped object and placed it in front of Dean and said, "If you don't plan to go to the shelter, then accept this thing."
“What is this?” Dean asked curiously.
"The transmitter made by Mr. Anderson. As long as you use this thing, someone will come over to guide you to find that shelter." Kingsley introduced to Dean: "Of course, the time may be a little slower, because we need to be sure You have no problem."
After saying that, Kingsley stood up and prepared to leave.
"No, Mr. Shacklebolt, I'm going to go with you," Dean said firmly.
"This is a very wise choice. No matter what, it doesn't hurt to go to the shelter first." Kingsley nodded. "If you are really desperate in the future, you can at least hide in the shelter. This is actually the reason why we built it there."
“A last resort?” murmured Mr. Thomas.
"Yes."
“Do my parents need to stay away for a while?” Dean asked again.
"We usually advise them to stay away for a while, at least after school starts in September. After all, no one can be sure whether they will come here to arrest people." Kingsley took out his pocket watch and looked at the time and said, "Okay, we should Leave, take your things and say goodbye to your family.”
“Are you apparating here?” Dean asked excitedly.
“We need to go some distance to Apparate, you are not yet underage.”
“No, I’m an adult.” Dean corrected again.
This is also the reason for Dean to dare to leave on his own. He has passed the Apparition test.
"That's good. If you're ready, I'll send you there first. I'll have to inform other students from Muggle families later."
“Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt,” Mrs. Thomas said gratefully.
“You’re welcome, in these terrible times, everyone should help each other.”
Kingsley took Dean away from Thomas' house and apparated in a deserted alley nearby.
When Dean came to his senses, he found himself in a shabby room. There were footsteps outside, and then he saw Lupine appearing outside the door holding a wand.
"How is it going?"
"You are the third batch here. You should not have been targeted yet, but you'd better move quickly." Lupine tapped Dean with his wand and cast the Disillusionment Curse on him. "Follow me."
After leaving the dilapidated house, Dean was taken to an empty street by Lupin.
Then he saw Mad-Eye Moody again.
Then he glanced at a silver card, and a dilapidated hotel appeared out of thin air in the empty space in front of him.
“Go in!” Moody urged, looking around warily.
“Is this the shelter?”
Dean opened his mouth slightly, his face a little disappointed. The hotel in front of him was even more shabby than he expected.
"It's a pity that the current situation is like this. Aren't you disappointed, but at least it's safe enough here." Cedric appeared out of nowhere, "Come with me. The third and fourth floors here have been simply cleaned. No. As for too bad.”
“Cedric, do you live here too?” Dean asked curiously.
"No, I'm just here to help." Cedric led the people upstairs.
“Then am I going to live in a ghost place like this in the future?” Dean muttered. No matter how you look at it, this place looks like a hotel that has been abandoned for a long time.
"No, you can choose to stay, or you can leave on your own." Cedric said calmly, "But there is no doubt that it will be safer here than outside. Kingsley should have told you that this is the last one prepared for you. Safety and security.”
(End of this chapter)